ShamyLove

So I can't take credit for this - someone pointed it out on tumblr. But notice right before Sheldon walks away, his head is tilted towards his left. Not the right, where he started!! So did he pull away and go in for a another kiss? What does this mean?!! DISCUSS!

FoxPhile

I suspect there's quite a story in everything that went on inside Sheldon's head after the kiss and for the rest of that weekend. No offense to your sister but I think she is simplifying Sheldon a bit too much. There's a lot more depth to be mined there. True Amy's reaction and her thought process after getting such a surprise from the glacier that is Sheldon would make for an excellent story as well. But if you are inspired to travel inside Sheldon's brain I think you should go for it.

As far as Sheldon's comments to Leonard, I don't think they diminish the importance of the kiss at all. If anything it's exactly the opposite. Leonard asked what he did and the kiss was one of the first things he thought of.

Lastly, in context with the second on screen kiss - since I for one believe there have been others we have not seen - I would like to know what led Sheldon from his former stance of rejecting virtually all forms of physical touch to apparently embracing frequent, intense and perhaps, somewhat whimsical kissing.

spring_time

Like how some of you mentioned, I really loved how Sheldon didn't even need to LOOK inside the fridge to find the butter. His hands knew where it was. It was as if he was home

When Amy said "it's date night, aren't you forgetting something.".. I thought it was really interesting how Sheldon's mind immediately jumped to kiss and not something else he could have forgotten.. As if he wanted to kiss her too but needed a little nudge (like how Amy gave him a nudge with the "I deserve romance" in locomotive)

The best thing about this kiss was that Sheldon has realized that his fear was not the kiss but perhaps the CHANGE that may occur in Shamy's relationship. Perhaps he was afraid that Amy would become a different person if she received any more forms of intimate contact. By Amy proving to him that she is the same gf as ever, Sheldon's comfort in touching and kissing her has really grown.

Such an amazing episode!! I love these 2!

Tijopi11

I love/hate when so many shamy fans have posted good content in the forum to the point where I can't quite quote everyone in one post, so I have to go solo...

I like the explanation that Sheldon was like the movement of a glacier- moving slowly, but after a long period of time, you can see a huge difference. Just as how we shamy fans have gone along the ride for so long and have gone so slow that casual shippers complain of their slowness while more patient/forgiving shippers wait on the edge of their seats for something as seemingly simple as a kiss, or a touch, to bless itself upon the camera. It goes so slow that even the most obvious things, things people do on perhaps first dates, come across as monumental.

To be honest...I think that's my favorite part about Shamy. The fact that the slowness of the relationship highlights simple things. Things like goodnight kisses, or hugs, or eye-contact, or 'i love you's, or smiles, or sex...or even little nudges and touches. Now take any other couple. Smiles, oh that's cool. touches, nudges..who noticed THAT one? Kissing. First time, sometimes it's a huge relief, and then it becomes just a standard 'how do you do.' The emotional tug becomes obsolete, the suspense all but dissipates, the general beauty dissolves. It's like...how the pure simplicity of a flower can be seen as a truly blissful, divine, beautiful, precious thing. The innocence of simple hugs, kisses, touches...are usually ignored in regular couples, because the physical suspense is no longer an issue. Now the couple can only hold emotional suspense. Because Shamy is both an emotional and physical conflict, it becomes suspenseful both emotionally AND physically, thus using double the spectrum at it's fullest potential. See what I'm getting at?

As shamy fans, we keep waiting for little things to come across. And we think the relationship goes so incredibly slow...but then we do a little sometihng like look back at Shamy in the old days. Where Amy found coitus arguably just as repulsive as Sheldon did, and both mutually agreed that coitus was a laughable subject to ever happen between them. Amy considered Leonard tedious, she mocked Howard for his lack of a doctorate, and she was hesitant around Penny. The growing shamy nation knew in their hearts that maybe one day they would be a couple, but it was only a dream and not yet a reality. Now we've come all the way to the point where imaging a world where the two could be seperated in a break-up for much more than a single episode is unthinkable. We all know either one or the other, most likely Sheldon in fact, would come begging back needy as a puppy (in the most humble way as they could possibly muscle under such a shameful tradegy!) and they would be back together like no time, because these two have little pride to protect when it comes to being together. Even Sheldon, a VERY proud person, is someone whom I doubt would stay apart from Amy for too long for the sake of his pride. I think, or perhaps I'm delusional, but I almost think both recognize in their hearts that seperating after so much progress would be to the point of being a ridiculous idea. To them, I think it's more like throwing out a novel you'd been writing in the fire. After so much work, after all you've been through, after all this established intimacy...who in their right mind would blow it? I think they know they could work out any problem, and breaking up just doesn't seem PRACTICAL in a very logical, mathematical sense.

As I was saying though, imaging Sheldon even CONSIDERING sex back then was unthinkable. Now we're kind of crossing our fingers like some of us were doing back when we were waiting for Sheldon to pop the 'will you be my girlfriend' question. We're fairly certain Sheldon will have sex, or at least a good portion of us are, it's just a matter of 'when' instead of an 'if.'

Personally, I find a lot of entertainment out of trying to solve Sheldon. That's another reason why I love shamy, and why I love this show. They've built such solid characters that it's like they aren't made up anymore. It's no longer a matter of filling him out, it's a matter of trying to get into his head. Trying to figure him out. Trying to think fo a logical reason for why Sheldon would think this way or that. It's no longer forming a character for the writers, it's following the character as he leads the way down seperate paths. Same for Amy, who has just as much if not more character to explore than Sheldon does, but all in a different way- a completely different character. Both characters are amazing to watch INDIVIDUALLY, but it's the third creation that they make together that we stick around for, and what we're most hopeful for to watch mature. That's when you know you got two great characters!

Since it is my personal belief that no fictional character can be fully explained or justified, even by the creators themselves, I think it's perfectly acceptable to create your own world with them. That includes writing fiction about them. To be honest, once you've created a character, I mentally visualize him taking on a 3-D persona, tilting his hat to the writers, and then walking on down his merry way. Honestly, the creators have just as good a guess on where the character will lead as any spectator or fan does. What the creators put the characters through is canon, but as long as the fans treat the character with enough dignity to recognize WHO exactly he is, like a close personal friend, then I say handing the character over to them makes the journey that the character goes through in their eyes just as 'real' as the original creators. May not be actual canon, but the say the story of the fan written content still exists, even if a much more limited number of people know about that particular journey. Almost like the theory that differnet dimensions hold different outcomes for each person. The journey may condradict canon, but we can say it's an alternate-dimension spin-off sort of journey. Another conclusion, another path. All the same.

For that reason, I say the character can be interpretted in any number of ways since the narrative of every individual is never quite the same as another. Even if we told the exact same story with the exact same plot, I would never be able to write it the same way as someone else could. Maybe i would write it better, maybe i would write it worse, simply because my writing style either fits or doesn't fit with that story plot quite as well.

I agree that the writers were smart to only give away as much of the story that was NECESSARY. Because it leads the audience to come up with their own devices and their own conclusions. I think we've all wondered what happened between that kiss and when he got home. What did they talk about? How long did the intimacy extend? Was the kiss ever mentioned again or did it just simply dissapear in the middle- a forbidden subject because it was just so raw at the time, and tender, and just too pure to touch on at the moment. Did the moment need a second to LAST as long as possible, or did they talk about it to full extent behind the audience's back? These questions are left up to US to ponder, and thus, we are unknowingly creating our own paths and journies. As a narrative species, a species that must create and ponder, I think it's only our right to create new paths with characters. We all have. Now it's our decision to actually write that path down, with pen and paper/a trusty keyboard and fanfiction account, for the judgement of the public. It's your decision, you have no obligation to do so nor do you have anything to lose. You just simply can or cannot. There is no 'should do it' or 'should not do it' about it, in my opinion.

teoriapostmoderna

TFTNT!

This. I LOVE this kiss, the fact that Sheldon is so clearly into it (look at those lips, damn!), that Amy seems to still be in the what-is-happening phase... Ugh the feels.

Excuse me, back to watching the SIK on loop.

BlackWhiteRose

TFTNT!
Wonderful title
I loved their kiss in tha latest episode aww

stefi62

Well said everyone, it's a pleasure to read all your brilliant analyses.

I love all their scenes in this episode. But I can't help thinking poor Sheldon, they've made him go through a lot this season so far, and even something that seems not important (a choice between two game stations) seems to be hard for him. I am very sad for him at the end of the episode .
I think what happened to him in Texas made him lose his certainties about everything (discovering that your mother is not as pure as you'd always thought must be very hard, especially for someone like Sheldon who plays by the rules). I don't know if they will use it again this season (i am completely unspoiled, I don't even know the next titles) but I think they should, that was a brilliant idea to go on with Sheldon becoming a man (which is the main idea this season IMO). With Amy by his side to help him.

The butter scene was just hilarious, I love how Mayim played it (if she is nominated for an Emmy this year, she should really choose this episode as a submission) and that is the Amy I love. I also love how committed she seems to be in the last two scenes: she understands it is an internal struggle for Sheldon and she is there, patiently, to support and comfort him. Brilliant writing IMO.


ETA: for those interested and who did not see my preivuos post, here is the link to the Shamy Maratnon part 11 (from ep 7.17 to 7.19): https://vimeo.com/91018672

ETA2: And the naughty movie lover in me cannot help but smile at the butter reference.

Bella Duveen

Hi just to say I love all your kiss reactions and love the new pics too! I haven't seen the full episode and won't until it shows here, but I was wondering if, as seems likely, Amy needs more emotional confirmation that Sheldon loves her, how would he try to give her that, seeing as I believe he'd like to be kissed back now?

I think the answer he might come up with to try and sort through his confusion on the matter (I kissed her! Isn't that what she wanted? And I like it more than I ever thought I would...so why won't she kiss back?) might be a reverse of her Ebbinghaus experiment in TLA. He would, of course, claim that her original experiment was 'inconclusive' (yeah right!) to justify it to himself, and then what do think he would do? What special things could he come up with for her, and could it be a good fic? I liked writing my first one, there may be another!

ShamyLove

I just re-watched it and it occurred to me that I love how Sheldon asks Amy "Thoughts?" when they're in the store. In that one word question, he shows he values her opinion on something so incredibly important. His gaming system.

FoxPhile

This really has been a significant theme this season. Let's not forget that the season started with Sheldon finding out that his best friend, Leonard, would rather spend time with his girlfriend after coming back from four months at sea than with Sheldon. We all would consider that perfectly normal, but for Sheldon, it was HUGE. He's no longer the center of Leonard's universe as he always thought he was. Then Amy pointed out a defect in Sheldon's favorite movie. And I don't believe that Sheldon is the sort who can simply wave such a thing away. The movie is ruined for him and there is no turning back from that. Right after that, there is the epic fail with the discovery of a new element that wasn't. In that case, real, legitimate and public humiliation about something that he MOST prides himself on - his career and his intelligence. Sheldon's hero, Professor Proton, initially consults Leonard - not Sheldon - about his paper. Then the whole revelation that his mother is actually just as human as everyone else.

Sheldon is probably dealing with more "real life" in these past few months than he has ever had to deal with before. And these are the sorts of things most adults run into through their late teen years and into their twenties. Most adults have learned well before they reach Sheldon's age that our friends have other friends and obligations and we are not always number one. We've learned to deal with the fact that things we loved and idolized when we were young are not always the epitome of perfection we originally thought they were. We learn to deal with failures in our careers and we learn that our parents are human, too. We hopefully learn about the personality traits we have that may be off-putting to others, and if we're smart, we learn to modify those traits so we can function better both socially and professionally. But that all happens over a span of years, not months.

When you think about it, the only thing left in Sheldon's life that he can really count on is Amy. Even though she pointed out the problem with Raiders to him, that was not Amy deserting or disappointing hm - that was the movie. Amy is the one part of his life he's been able to depend on consistently. She may challenge him, she may even get angry with him, but she is always there for him and she always supports him - in the way he most needs to be supported, even if it means telling him she's embarrassed for him.

It will be very interesting to see if the writers continue this theme through the end of the season - to see what else is in store for Sheldon and how it affects him and if we will see some sort of climax to all this before the season finale or if it will extend into season 8.

ETA: Tijopi11, I both love/hate your posts! I love that they are so pithy and full of reasoned and thoughtful analysis of so many aspects of this relationship and the characters. But I hate that I usually have to postpone reading them until I have the leisure to give them the attention they deserve.

In particular, I want to cite this paragraph:

As a fanfiction writer, I've often encountered the situation where it seems as if the characters take over the writing - leading the story down pathways that I never intended when I set out to write. Good characters do seem to take on a life of their own. And I believe that is because good characters, like real people, are multi-dimensional. which means there is always some part of the character left to explore, no matter how much has been written about them.

I also love your reference to the theory of multi-dimensional universes - especially since there has been some things in the news about this lately - as a justification of sorts for the existence of fanfiction. Each character lives uniquely in the mind of every fan. That doesn't mean that my version of Sheldon is not really Sheldon. He's simply Sheldon in another universe.

And Sheldon would love that.

stefi62

I think they have two options: either they keep doing it the way they have and Sheldon changes slowly until the show ends, realizing his friends, his science and Amy are what is really important for him and what he should rely on, or they end up with a very traumatic thing in the near future, like Meemaw's death, or an accident, or a break up with Amy (even a break up between Penny and Leonard would be extremely traumatic for him right now) I don't know, and Sheldon is "broken" and has to react.
I'm scared for Sheldon, I really like the character and I hope nothing painful happens to him. But I trust the writers, they've been wonderful up to now,I trust them, they will keep inventing good stuff for our 7 favorite characters.
TBBT is a comedy, but I really like the characters study it has become ever since Steve Molaro is the showrunner. And with such a good cast, they can make them play just anything, and it's always brilliant.

Captain Riterra Smith

Ah that makes so much sense. Sheldon is facing a lot of typical "growing up" stuff all at once and much later than the average person. He may come out the other side a somewhat different guy. I mean he will hold all his core values and beliefs but maybe apply them or look to them in a more adult way. And what else will he find after this paradigm shift? Amy will still be there, will still love him. Sheldon is going to finally understand what she is there for. I seriously feel an ILY coming on.

FoxPhile

Yep, me too. To paraphrase someone from earlier (or perhaps it was another thread), the ILY is no longer a matter of if but when. And I think it will rock both Sheldon's and Amy's worlds even more than the SIK.

Musickat18

I'll start by saying I can see your sister's point. I don't know her stance on fanfiction, but my own experience was, until I wrote my first fanfic, I thought fanfiction was one of the weirdest things a person can do. "What is the point? Who puts that much thought into a show?? Why do it? You get nothing from it? It's just weird!" So if I look at it from the POV of a casual viewer, then yeah, maybe it's going a bit far.

But the thing is that the writers and Jim have actually created a rather complex character, whether they meant to or not. I suspect, especially since Sheldon was originally based off a rea person, that they're writing him much like we fanfic writers do, in that we think to ourselves "If I were Sheldon, how would I respond to X? What quirk can we exaggerate? What would Sheldon likely find abnormal and irritating that we find normal?" etc etc. Basically, the writers are writing him as a real person, not a caricature of a person. Sure his quirks are greatly exaggerated, but I've said to more than one person that I think the reason why Sheldon is so universally liked by so many people is that he says or does what we all think, but just more exaggerated. For example, I have a favored spot on the couch, and yes, I do get a little miffed when it's taken. But rather than stop there and rant about someone being in my seat, I just get over it and find another spot. So when Sheldon goes on his spiel about why his spot is his spot, I laugh, because I can relate.

So I said all that to say this: I think there are stories to tell. I think that the writers have 7 characters to write stories about in 20 minute increments. Of course there's going to be things they don't show. Maybe we'd get more if this were an hour drama, but it's not. And that's the brilliance of Fanfiction. Whether Bill Prady agrees with me or not, it's a fantastic medium to explore the idea of "how did Sheldon go from fuzzy headed and shy to listing off the kiss as just another thing he did that weekend?" Maybe he was back to his usual self by the time they made it to the conductor or maybe it was after he woke up the next morning or maybe he just lost himself in that banjo players can-do attitude. Whatever happened, I think that's an interesting thing to write about. And even if you don't explore that concept and just write about the events that transpired, I'd still be interested (although I'm always interested in getting inside Shelly's head). So, to make a long story longer, I disagree with your sister, although I can see her point.

Tijopi11

On the subject of fanfictions, I used to also find fanfictions to be a weird concept. It felt sort of 'cheap' to me somehow, like the fact that it wasn't written by the writers made it not worth my interest. I didn't think people put effort in fanfictions to be honest- I didn't think there would be any drive in creating a story based off of something that's already been thought up and established.

Of course, I later found how awesome it was to read fanfictions, and then how great it is to WRITE fanfictions... it's like all those little thing you wish happened in the show could finally happen in the form of a fanfiction, and there's absolutely no limitations because your work is YOUR work. You don't need to expect much accept for it to be reasonable.

And on the subject of Sheldon maturing this season. I've been thinking about this for a long time but never quite got to expressing it correctly. What makes Sheldon interesting to me at the moment is how absurdedly justified his quirks can be. Like Musickat18 said- and I absolutely adore this description of Sheldon!- many of us can love Sheldon's character because his actions are really a lot of things we can relate to and understand, just blown out of proportion and exaggerated to a humorous extent. In my family there are four chairs sitting around the kitchen table for four people. The one in the west is my sister's, the one opposite of that is my dad's, the one easiest to get to is mine, and across from that getting more or less gypped is my mother's. If someone sits in the wrong seat, it just feels wrong. I'll admit, if someone sits at MY seat, sometimes I won't even eat until they move. I can't eat because my seat is taken!

I think a lot of people operate that way where it has to be the same restauraunts, the same sitting arrangements, we all hate change at least to some degree. We may not want to admit it but we can also be pretty egotistical. I think this is where the humor is actually derived from- just the pure irony that someone as supposedly absurd, quirky, difficult to deal with, generally unlikeable, and weird as Sheldon is someone we can really relate to in most cases to some extent.

Back to sheldon's quirks, with the mentioning of him maturing this season, I've recently realized that the majority of Sheldon's character faults stem from his lacking of ever maturing during his teenage years before entering adulthood. That may not be all entirely true- things like an obessive desire for cleanliness or his OCD nature seem more like a nature thing rather than a nurture thing. But I think such problems in his life such as his egotism, lack of social skills, and his enjoyment of geeky things (not really a fault, although it can be viewed as such in todays modernized society) are a result of him not quite growing up.

I think the writers are preparing to deal with this side of Sheldon headon. I've noticed it mostly with Sheldon, since he has the farthest to go, but I believe they're actually maturing ALL of the original main cast. It's amazing to watch because, as mentioned with the fanfiction thing as well, I think the writer's have done an AMAZING job creating characters that have so many layers that it's nearly impossible to fully explore them. Everything seems to connect in some way, and yet Sheldon is so mysterious that you're never quite sure what he's thinking, just like a real person. Seeing these characters experience LIFE alongside with the comical nature of the show is actually my favorite part. I much prefer seeing how these characters grow through each episode than I do seeing the humor, although the humor is a nice bonus. (I think that's another good reason why I like Shamy. No other duo of characters have I seen develop and grow so much as a direct result of being a couple.)

Honestly, I'm really hoping that by the end of the show's lifetime, Sheldon will still be Sheldon, but the other characters in the show will view him as a very normal person. I know they're friends and they love to hate on eachother, but they've all agreed that Sheldon is annoying. I can't blame them, of course, but I really want the characters to fully UNDERSTAND Sheldon's motives, and for Sheldon to fully get past his seemingly endless state of immaturity. I want him to realize his place in the world- certainly needed but not direly fundamental, and that needs to be accepted with grace. He needs to realize when to calm down, and when to accpet other peoples feelings. He needs to EMBRACE the fact that feeling with emotions takes up a HUGE portion of the human condition, and that our natural persuit of understanding the universe is only half of the spectrum. If he never realizes and goes on to appreciate the emotional side of being human, then he'd be missing one of the best parts of being alive. (Should I be so bold to claim that! That's my opinion anyway!)

Ah, like I said, the character is so good that it's not even a half and half of good parts and bad parts...Sheldon seems to have more flaws than he can justify, but they're GOOD flaws. Reasonable, wholesome flaws. Flaws I can understand. And flaws I believe his character is willing to take on and mend.

....I think the reason I write so much is because I can't word my feelings in a single paragraph like most others.